Monday Round-Up and POTG Radio Tonight

After taking a couple of days off from POTG we bounce back today with an abridged weekend round-up/ Monday update posting to bring you up to speed on current hockey news and there was more than expected with the early morning firing of NHLPA head Paul Kelly.

Tonight on POTG Radio we have our first visit in a while with Ryan from The Red Light District and we plan to discuss how the Eastern Conference stacks up for the coming season. If you have never visited Ryan's site, you are really missing out.

Ryan's in depth analysis of the NHL is unsurpassed and no one anywhere has produced as much quality material over the summer as he has. Many of the pre-season hockey magazines on the racks do not have material as thorough as what you will find at the Red Light District.

We invite you to join us tonight as we start our look toward the upcoming season. In weeks to come Ryan will return for the Western Conference preview. September should be a fun month for POTG Radio and we are looking forward to bringing you something interesting each week.



As a side note, we will have the world premier of a new promo for the 303:30 podcast featuring @dani3boyz. This is the second time that Jeremy has blessed us with the opportunity to roll out a new promo for them which we are always pleased to do.

In Pred Nation...

Over the weekend, Mark from The View from 111 posted one of his best pieces in the form of a letter to Jim Ballsillie and Gary Bettman. This is a great post that deserves a wide audience.

Jim Diamond as part of a nationwide Examiner initiative looks to the Pred's season and answers six key questions about this year's team.

John Glennon discusses whether Pekka Rinne will hold on to the number one spot this year. John has another post about the glut of centers competing for the third and fourth line positions. Today, John writes about added pressure on Kevin Klein as his role increases this season. We also see the first mention of rookie practice starting on September 9.

After a weekend trip, Dirk is back with his Monday Breakfast Links at On The Forecheck.

Stephanie Muraro has a piece on the three former Admirals having a shot at their Olympic teams.

Daniel Swallows at Bleacher report has big expectations for Mike Santorelli placing him in a top five of potential breakout players this season. Ads Shorts Shifts also comments on the BR story.

Twitter gossip from @Sully26: "Wonder if Frank will tell his listeners tomorrow morning about our Sunday match at Olde Stone.... Thanks again for the invite Frank!" It appears Sully and Frank Wycheck must have hooked up on the links yesterday.

From @BenThrashers: I've heard that the Sept. 14 ATL/NSH prospect game is sold out of its 500 tix. Thrashers Fan Club has some thoug-atlantathrashersfans.org.

Around the NHL...

Darren Dreger of TSN waited out the NHLPA and at 3:32 EDT this morning tweeted @DarrenDreger: "sources say Paul Kelly has been fired as the NHLPA's executive director." More details are in his TSN post here. Dreger also writes that many questions are raised from the firing. Here is the very sterile release from the NHLPA site.

This dissension in the ranks moves the NHL closer to an apocolypse that Chris Wassel and I have been writing about for the last few weeks. Dee Karl was up early today writing about how all this isn't good for fans. Ken Campbell at The Hockey News is also critical of the firing.

As if the NHLPA stuff isn't disturbing enough, there are more issues with a potential Coyote relocation to Hamilton than was previously imagined based on this Globe and Mail story. Bill Daly says basically "anybody but Ballsillie." The Spec also reports that he NHL promises "years of litigation" if their bid fails for the Coyotes.

Mirtle has a wrap-up of a document submitted to the courts in Phoenix that shows the much discussed relocation fee should me minuscule compared to the numbers previously thrown about. Mirtle has also put all Coyotes bankruptcy related articles on one page for everyone's convenience.

This week, Matt Reitz will have a round-table for each division in the NHL starting today with the Atlantic division. He will have folks from all 30 teams giving input into their teams and their divisions.

Michele Kenneth responded to my challenge for having a Sean Avery "hat trick' of articles by having the third article in three days involving the Ranger's pest. In this post, Avery appeared in Michelle's top seven players that she loves to hate.

Will Nikita Filatov be the next young Russian to return to the KHL? Is say he might be if his PT isn't up to what the wants.

Not that he will ever see any money from it but, Sergei Fedorov won his $60 million suit versus his ex-financial adviser.

Here is a rare article about NHL contraction that amazingly does not involve the Predators.

Over the weekend word is out that Alex Tanguay will join the Lightning, pending a physical for a reported $2.5 million.

Mirtle writes of Friday's trade between the Canucks and the Sharks at the Globe and Mail. The Nucks also signed free agent Mathieu Schneider.

From @JapersRink: Welcome @GreenLife52 to Twitter, complete with a full-on web site at http://www.greenlife52.com/ (h/t CapsChick) For those who want the inside poop on the Cap's Mike Green, this appears to be the place.

MotherPucker hockey traveled a long way to get to last week's Red-White game and posted this crowd video of the intro and the shootout. The Russian Red-White Olympic Camp games was yesterday and here is a video of the players entering the ice.

The newest twist in the ongoing variety of NHL Tweetups occured Friday afternoon in the rain on some type of all purpose court on Long Island. @Dani3boyz held the first "Street Hockey Edition" of a tweetup and all who attended appeared to have had a blast based on the pictures and tweets. Here is photo proof of the gang. Jackson and I have an ongoing "PredsOnTheGlass Cup" street hockey match in front of our house on an almost daily basis. Jackson tweeted "@jacksonoakes: I really want to do a street hockey #nhltweetup in Nashville..Believe it or not, @PredsOnTheGlass is pretty good in goal." He got several positive tweets in response so it looks like a Preds version of the street hockey tweetup will happen sooner or later. Ultimately, I guess we could take on the Island crew in some type of cup match.

Off Topic... We had to burn a bunch of bag worms that we cut down out of the walnut tree out back and decided to dispose of a few other things like a reindeer, a couple of boogie boards, and a lamp shade. I made a video with a great Jimi Hendrix mix and I now find out that YouTube is not allowing most music on the posted videos anymore. Evanescence is no Jimi Hendrix but here it is anyway.


More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Friday Lunchtime Edition - Tweetup Wrap-up and Congrats to Dani

Thursday night's Tweetup at Past Perfect in downtown Nashville was quite a success. Ultimately about twenty-five Predator tweeters attended with an excellent representation from the Nashville blogging community.

There was plenty of discussion about Chris Chelios, the Phoenix situation, the troubled financial state of the league in general (and several teams specifically), and the potential for a major meltdown involving a lockout and rival league in 2011-12.

The upstairs room at Past Perfect was an excellent location for the Tweetup. The room has a Foosball table, darts, and even a putting green. Plenty of friendly completion was underway all night.

@ajinnashville was the official photographer for the event and has a bunch of pictures up on Facebook. It was great to meet a bunch of folks in person that I only knew from the Tweetdeck and good to see others that I haven't seen in a while. Thanks to @predsradio Tom Callahan for organizing the event. I would list all in attendance but my memory is too poor and I wouldn't want to slight anyone.

Congrats to Dani...

In honor of last night's Nashville Tweetup, Puck Daddy has the five reasons why Tweetup Queen and founder Dani Muccio loves hockey. This is a fun read. I'm one of Dani's biggest fans and have really enjoyed watching her rise to stardom since the first of the year. Hockey fans everywhere should really appreciate what she has added to community nature of the game through the Tweetup concept and working to connect others on Twitter. Congrats to Dani for getting recognition that she deserves.

In Pred Nation...

Dirk at On The Forecheck was out of town for the Tweetup last night but still has his Breakfast Links up this morning. He also has two great versions of Preds schedule wallpaper up on his site.

Mark at View from 111 has another posting of his weekly Friday "Views" that offer great insight from far and wide.

Jeremy at Section303 posted his thoughts on Chris Chelios as a Predator yesterday. Today, Paul McCann comments on the rumor of Chelios as a Pred. John Glennon throws the names of Greg DeVris and Ken Klee into the mix of possible D-Men at Inside Predators.

Jim Diamond takes a look at one position that the Preds enjoy strength and depth, the goaltender.

Rachel from What The Puck posted on Dan Hamhuis before heading to the Tweetup yesterday. I agree that he may be one Predator that will have extra responsibilities this season with a group of young defensemen.

The Edmonton Sun has an article about Jordin Tootoo having to leave his village and return to Nashville.

Pekka makes Adam Greuel's Top 15 Goalie list at Bleacher Report.

Pred Prospect Cody Franson will appear at at a Youth In-line Hockey Tournament in LaVergne tomorrow.

Here's the Colin Wilson photo from the Upper Deck photo session.

Around the NHL...

The ESPN duo of Burnside and Lebrun wrap up last night's Red-White game. After my whining all week about the game not being available on TV or the net, it turns out that it was actually shown at the CTVOlympics site. There's plenty of video of the action here.

No details but a meeting is scheduled for the NHLPA to discuss concerns with leader Paul Kelly.

Illegal Curve points to a Law.com article about the Coyote's situation that has a slightly different view of the matter.

With the retirement of JR, Craig Custance takes a look at other players who may be able to step up and take over his outspokenness on the game of hockey. Tim Thomas is listed as number one. At the NHL Awards earlier this summer, Tim stood and talked and answered every question in the room and was very eloquent in his discussion.

As expected, Patrick Kane got away with a slap on the wrist and an apology for the cabbie incident. Hopefully he has learned his lesson but I have a suspicion that we will see similar issues in the future.

The CBC reports that Oilers owner Daryl Katz has purchased property that could eventually be the site of a new arena. That would be great news for Edmonton if it pans out.

Let's hope the Blues don't have the injury bug again this year. The Hockey Writers report Eric Brewer missing the start of the season due to knee surgery.

Mirtle reflects on his first year at SB Nation while gearing up for year two.

Michelle Kenneth features Sean Avery information for the second day in a row and doesn't seem real thrilled with Sean.

Congrats to Chris Botta who tweets "@nyipointblank: Proud to be given opportunity by AOL to be a national hockey writer for Fanhouse. Still hope to find a place for my Islanders coverage."

Off Topic... Here's a great site that is big on Twitter now called "People of Walmart." From the comfort of your computer chair you can experience the best faces (and bodies) of Walmart without having to leave your house.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Thursday's Round Up - Tweetup Tonight

We are looking forward to tonight's Tweetup at at 7:00 at Past Perfect, which is located at 122 Third Ave South. It sounds like there will be a good crowd. Here is the official Twitvite page to let everyone that you are coming. Remember, all are invited, not just the Twitteratti.

There should be fresh discussion with organizer Tom Callahan tweeting "New rumor floating about: 3rds will make debut at Fanfest? Could be... mark it down." That raises two questions that we will be looking for answers to tonight. What is, and when is Fanfest and what do these jerseys look like, since Tom let on that he has seen them in an earlier tweet.

Also, with Barry Trotz answering questions on XM 204 yesterday afternoon, we have a better idea of what is on his mind. Here are my notes from the interview.

Jackson, Fisher and I should be at the Tweetup tonight and will be ready to meet some new folks. Hopefully we nipped the concern about kids and R-rated language at the Tweetup in the bud. I advised the boys that there were concerns so that they needed to clean up their act. @jodystapley, hopefully that will ease your concerns ;)

In Pred Nation...

John Glennon has a new post at Inside Predators and points out that Joel Ward is not a lock for the second line. Indications are that Mike Santorelli may have the opportunity to play his way onto the team as a winger.

Mark from View from 111 continues his commentary on the Coyote's situation.

Kelly offers an invitation to Petr Sykora to sign with the Preds at Confessions of a Predators Fanatic.

Not that it will actually happen, but my ongoing effort at mentioning Chis Chelios as a 7/8 D-Man has finally made the MSM. John Glennon writes of the possibility this morning. Will it actually happen? I doubt it. Chelios has spoken with every team in the league in his search for a job including hanging out at the US and Canada Olympic camps.

Around the NHL...

Mirtle continues his complete analysis of the Phoenix situation as he looks at a few theories of what the NHL bid could mean. The official offer from the NHL is $140 million with no money for Moyes, and Gretzky not in the picture at the current salary. The Spec digs deeper into the NHL bid.

Pierre Lebrun at the Team Canada Olympic camp writes about the Phoenix Coyotes? Shane Doan inspired Pierre to write about his side of the Coyotes story. Doan is truly one of the good guys in the game of hockey. E J Hradek gives his take on the Coyotes also at ESPN.

The Red and White game an the Team Canada Olympic orientation camp is tonight and it still appears that there will be no TV coverage anywhere. It is amazing that you can have over 40 of the best players in the world playing in a game and no one wants to put it on the air.

Ex-Pred Mike Sillinger announced his retirement on Wednesday afternoon. Mike holds the record for the most NHL teams played for at 12 which led to his nickname "suitcase". Katie Strang has a story from the announcement. Dirk at On The Forecheckhas the Pred's angle on the retirement.

In honor of Fashion Week, Michelle Kenneth has the five best and worst dressed players in the league. I love her worst dressed player best of all.

Psycho Lady Hockey has more photograpy from past seasons up at her page.

BD Gallof has a post at The Faster Times that is an excellent dissertation on the current state of the media between traditional and new media sources. He also addresses the issue of credibility and quality of the written product. This is an excellent post that raises points that each writer should consider when putting out their product on the internet.

Bleacher Report has a slide show revealing the eight best off seasons. They made pretty good choices based on what we know now. Don't expect to see the Preds.

Just to keep fans in line, the Hockey News has something negative to say about all 30 teams. They also have a Q and A with Dan Carcillo who I've always liked for some reason. He should have a good year with the Flyers.

Another day, another prediction on the Western Conference. Sports My Religion picks the Preds at eleven with 88 points. This one is better than some but they seem a little over enthusiastic about Chicago's chances.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Notes from Barry Trotz's Interview on XM 204

Predators head coach Barry Trotz appeared on XM 204 Home Ice with Mike Ross and James “Boomer” Gordon this afternoon and covered a wide variety of topics. Here are a few notes from the interview.

On contracts… The core of the team is locked up for a while. First summer in a while that there hasn’t been major controversy with key players leaving.

Making the playoffs… Preds missed by four points last year. Three outstanding D-men, good forwards coming up, and Sully for the whole year should help make up those points.

On Sully… Makes a lot happen on the ice with and without the puck. He makes everyone he plays with a better player.

On Legwand and Erat… Good two way players. Should be at the prime age. It's time for them to step up and express themselves at the next level and take leadership role. Trotz has talked to both and they understand the expectation. He has seen Leggy and he looks healthy and ready to go.

On Weber… has not reached his peak. Still will continue to improve. Will do well in Olympics.

On Suter… Trotz feels he will be a top three d-man for the US team.

On Hamhuis… Has opened a lot of eyes at Olympic camp.

On Sulzer… Trotz feels he will crack the lineup. Very mature, and experienced in Olympics, World Championships, and two years at Milwaukee. Has good size, outstanding passing skills, and is a puck moving defenseman.

Franson and Lassko… are the other two on defense that look ready to make the team.

On Ryan Ellis… at draft lots of interest in a trade when he was still available at 11. Really processes the game, good vision and decision making.

On Colin Wilson… Excellent chance to play this year. Trotz compared him to Rod Brind Amour at the same age with more offensive upside.

On Jon Blum… another defenseman with good vision and processing skills. Looks bigger off the ice than on the ice. Will see some action with the Preds this year.

On Rinne and Ellis… As a coach would like to see each play 50-50 and be successful. Obviously Pekka is number one going into camp but has confidence to put either in on any given night.

On teaching the game… Entire staff made up of good teachers. Teaching is the Pred’s lifeline. Never going to spend to the cap, usually closer to the mid-point. Have to have very focused staff and organization. You don’t have to spend to the cap to win the Stanley Cup.

So there you go. Those are a few thoughts and cryptic notes on what Barry Trotz is thinking two and one half weeks before the camp opens.

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Desert Shenanigans, Mid-Week Notes, and the Birth of a Movie Blog

The weirdness that never ends in the desert took another turn Tuesday evening which had the league been totally honest, was what should have been done right from the beginning.

As Jerry Reinsdorf decided to call it quits because of the "seller's interference", Gary Bettman and the NHL jumped in as an official bidder to continue to try to rebuff Jim Ballsillie's aggressive attempts to take over the troubled franchise.

While some see this as a step forward toward finding a buyer for the team that will keep it in Glendale, it is really a step back to the spot that the team was in prior to Jerry Moyes double crossing Bettman by filing bankruptcy to begin with.

From last Fall, going forward, the NHL basically had control of the team and allegedly was trying to find a buyer to relieve Moyes of further obligations regarding his ownership of the Coyotes. Things were progressing at a snails pace, but in an orderly fashion, with the NHL propping up the team as needed.

Then Moyes, who was looking for a quick way out and wanting a little cash for the effort, aligned himself with the vulture, Jim Ballsillie, which took the control away from the NHL.

Now, three months later, and after millions of dollars have been spent on litigation by all involved, the NHL is making a formal bid to get back to where they were in the Spring, less any involvement by Jerry Moyes.

As Yogi Berra would say, "It's like deja vu all over again.

So many odd issues come out of the new bid that it is almost hard to fathom the possible appeals that will result no matter what is decided on September 10. The conflict between the NHL submitting a competing bid and the NHL Board of Governors not approving Ballsillie as an owner will be a great question for law students to debate for years to come.

Another oddity is that Ice Edge has also confirmed their bid and the NHL in their statement said that they fully encourage them. How do you encourages someone that you are bidding against? Again, this does not pass the smell test.

Looking around the net, everyone is checking in with a post on the breaking news. Puck Daddy has a good roundup with several sources included. NHL.com has a story and the text of Bill Daly's statement. Tyler at NHL Digest reposts a May segment where he predicted this scenario playing out. ESPN has the AP story.

In Pred Nation...

Dirk the Forechecker followed up on his POTG Radio homework assignment with his latest survey on the all-time best Pred's pugilist. Voting is in progress so get your opinion in before it is too late. Dirk's Wensesday's Breakfast links are also on tap and include information about tickets to the Pred's rookie games in Atlanta.

Michelle Kenneth had some nice things to say about Monday's POTG Radio show in her post at her home site. I wasn't hitting on all cylinders on Monday for some reason but Dirk and Michelle did a great job at keeping it interesting.

Hockey's Future came out with their top twenty list of Pred's prospects. There is no real surprise here with Colin Wilson leading the pack.

Before all the new bid news broke, Mirtle gave Mark from the View from 111 some good pub when answering a question about Jim Ballsillie.

The Windsor Star has a fresh regurgitation of the facts about Ryan Ellis wanting to make it to Nashville.

Also, before the new bid in the desert, Paul McCann continued his assault on Jim Ballsillie at Hockey Buzz. Paul has been very consistent on the topic for a long time.

After a technical delay, Illegal Curve has their Podcast with John Glennon posted on their site. You don't hear John on the radio much so this is a real treat. John also has a new post about a couple of ex-Preds, Scott Walker and Vern Fiddler at Inside Predators.

For all the Pred Fan Tweeters, Twibbon has a spiffy little Pred head to put in the corner of your picture. They are popping up on the Tweetdeck quicker than the weeds in my yard.

From No Alibis, No Regrets comes a summary of how everyone loves Ryan Suter.

Around the NHL..

Burnside and Lebrun at ESPN continue their daily Video and story from the Team Canada camp. This team will come ready to play in February.

Psycho Lady Hockey has her Tuesday top Ten and covers hockey player's pick-up lines. We touched base with Katrina yesterday and she has agreed to come on POTG Radio next month after she wraps up her current project. That will be a show to mark on your calendar.

Seventh Woman puts in her two cents worth on the DirecTV-Versus stink. I continue to maintain daily that it will get resolved before it is all over.

Dmitry Chesnokov interviewed Columbus prospect Nikita Filatov yesterday in the native tongue and provides the translation. A breakout season by the young Russian could go a ways toward helping the Blue Jackets get back in the playoffs.

John Grigg at The Hockey News looks at the amount of cap space being used by bought out players.

Blackstone Sports pointed us to a site that we haven't seen before that is a good resource for NHL news as well as other sports. Follow this link to Sportspyder.

Movies off topic...

We finally went to see Inglourious Basterds last night and the movie lived up to the high billing that almost everyone has given it. I teally enjoyed Brad Pitt's Tennessee accent with his character claiming to be from the town of Maynardville. I've been there many times and he sounded about right.

After a few recent articles about Twitter exposing bad movies quickly, the opposite effect was in order for IB according to this post.

Finally, big news on Tuesday night was the birth of a new movie discussions site called Beyond the Big Screen. The site was brain child of Brandon Felder who took on Jeremy Glover as a co-writer almost as soon as it was birthed during a Twitter discussion. This should be a good place to hang out and talk about something that hockey fans like almost as much as on ice action.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Tuesday Tid-Bits and POTG Pocast

Last night's POTG Radio show actually covered the Nashville Predators for a change with special guest Dirk Hoag, the Forechecker. We also had a visit by Inside Hockey's Michelle Kenneth. The full 90 minute podcast broadened into wider discussion of internet versus traditional media as well as other aspects of social media.

Dirk has a post about the show and the homework assignments that we gave him to do. You will have to listen to the podcast or go to his post to see what he homework actually is. I think this is the first time we have given a guest a to do list on the show. We will be looking for Dirk's Breakfast Links this morning for part of the follow-up.

Michelle is a real pioneer in the New Jersey Devils locker room, being the first fully credentialed internet writer for the team. She had an incredible year last season that started in Prague and ended in Vegas with stops at the all-star game, Winter Classic and many other places mixed in.

We also had a call from Andrew Echevarria, the 15 year old writer from Toronto that we linked on Saturday with his interview with Ryan Ellis. The communication was poor due to technical issues so we will have to have Andrew back when we can get a better connection.

It was a fun 90 minutes that flew by and should be a good listen on the podcast.

In Pred Nation...

The word on this week's Tweetup is now official. It will be Thursday at 7:00 at Past Perfect, which is located at 122 Third Ave South. It sounds like there will be a good crowd. Thanks to Tom Calahan AKA @predsradio for setting it up.

John Glennon writes of the defensive "core four" on the Preds and looks at how they compare to other teams. We had a good discussion on POTG last night about what a great job John has been doing on the blog side of the Tennessean over the summer. It is rumored that he will soon have a Twitter account too. Keep up the good work John!

Jim Diamond points to a new video piece on a few Predator prospects and details it at the Examiner.

I found another Preds blogger, Romin, over at Hockey Bums writing about the Goc signing. I'm sure he wasn't "lost" as opposed to "found" but I had not seen him before.

Bleacher Report has a post about why every Central Division team will (and won't) make the playoffs.

The Cleveland Leader asks if Cleveland would support and NHL team. The example they point to as a cheap investment is the Preds, valued at $134 million. If the Preds were mobile, I would imagine $212 million might be a starting point as a sale price. Actually, it would probably be higher considering the wealth of talent in the organization.

Around the NHL...

The Team Canada Olympic orientation camp is underway. Chris Johnson from the Canadian Press said, "I wasn't at the U.S Olympic camp last week but others have remarked that the Canadian one has a much more serious feel to it." Chris also adds "Canadian Olympic coach Mike Babcock hollering out drills at practice. This doesn't feel like a friendly August skate." Here are a couple of articles and a wrap up video and line combinations from ESPN wrap up the first day. Here's another very insightful piece by Pierre Lebrun on what this Olympics means to Canada.

Mirtle gives a complete breakdown of Team Canada's roster with groupings of who will be back in February and who won't.

As if things couldn't get screwier in the Phoenix situation, Jim Ballsillie has now amended his bid to give him the right to walk away from his proposal four days after the hearing if all issues are not resolved. I can assure big Jim that all issues will not be resolved by September 14. Here's the AP story in the Tennessean. Mirtle sums up the whole fiasco in this tweet, "@mirtle: It seems insane that Phoenix's two hockey teams were the Roadrunners and the Coyotes. No wonder things have gone loony tunes."

Our favorite Psycho Puck Lady explains the Power Play in today's post as only she can do.

The Edmonton Sun has a few words with ex-Pred Vern Fiddler who is headed fro Phoenix. He has nothing but good things to say about Nashville.

Sports Business Journal has a ranking of every minor league city in the US (all sports). Here is a discription of cities 2 to 10. I'm not sure where the story is on number one. Here is the full explanation of the rankings project. This was quite an undertaking.

So where do all the NHL fans live? NHL Snipers has a great map of the spread of every team across the US. I was a geography major so maps have a special place in my heart. I looked at this one for a long time. Make sure and click on it to make it full screen.

Hockey Joe has more insight to the Versus-DirectTV squabble. I still say that they will get it done sooner or later.

The Bruise Brothers have their entire 30 team projection for the coming season. The Preds get no respect.

As a final post mortem to the Dany Heatley presser, Pension Plan Puppets has a great word cloud of Dany's ramblings.

B D Gallof has another take on the Patrick Kane saga over at the Faster Times. Can we just get the season started so we can put Kane and Heatley in our rear-view mirror.

Big weekend for puck bunny tryouts with open auditions in Milwaukee and Tampa (video).

Two Twitter friends and alums of POTG radio from opposite coasts met up at the NHL store in New York on Monday. Here are @dani3boyz and @mozy19 hanging out together. It is amazing how social Twitter can be!
This must be Nashville Roller Girls week. Here's another roller girl story about "4 male sports that are wussy compared to women's rollerderby." Hockey is not one of them. Check it out.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Monday Updates and POTG Radio Tonight

Welcome to another wonderful work week. Monday morning is always a great time to get all geared up, leave the enjoyment of weekend activities behind, and get ready to dig in to a full week of work. Not! If you know people like that, they probably need to get a life (and good luck at not sucker punching them). Everyone deserves a bad case of the Mondays without anyone being too perky around them.

In spite of all that, we are looking forward to tonight's POTG Radio. Dirk Hoag of SB Nation's On The Forecheck is our special guest. Training camp opens in less than three weeks and the Preds first Rookie game is actually three weeks from tonight. So tonight, we will focus back on the Predators after doing a few shows of a more "national" nature during the summer.

Dirk is widely known in the internet hockey community. His statistical analysis articles are unmatched and his annual miles traveled by team posts are always eagerly awaited by pundits continent wide. Locally, He is the unchallenged leader in Predators and NHL hockey news coverage. This will be a fun show to gear up for the Pred's upcoming preseason camp.



In Predator Nation...

Kelly at Confessions of a Predator Fanatic has a five games in six days holiday hockey trip planned as a group of three lady Pred fans. Who says Nashville doesn't have hardcore fans?

Mark at the View from 111 has more explanation on the seriousness of the anti-trust portion of the Coyote's bankruptcy case.

The Forechecker has his Monday Breakfast Links with another link to the new All-Time Predator wallpaper.

John Glennon has an update on Shea Weber and Dan Hamhuis going to the Team Canada Olympic camp. Also, deep within the story he has a quote from David Poile reiterating that he intends to go to camp with the young defensive corp.

The Bruise Brothers had their Predator's preseason preview over the weekend. As we will see in most forecasts, they like the team but don't feel they will end up in the top eight in the tough Western Conference.

Jim Diamond has another segment of Predators 101 that discusses seating choices in the Sommet Center. This is good information for a fan who has never been or wants to avoid being heavy handed by a ticket salesman.

The Hockey News has a post on future franchise players under the age of 25 and only reveal ten on line (so you will buy the mag). Ryan Suter is on the partial list and there is a hint that Shea Weber is included on the full list.

We need to officially have an induction ceremony to honor Katrina of Psycho Lady Hockey as an honorary Nashville Predator fan. Through posts on her twitter account, @PsychoPuckLady, her web site has grown in notoriety in the Predator Nation to the point that she has noticed a spike in her analytics from our area. If you haven't checked out her work, its time to do so.

Around the NHL...

Big news this week will probably be the Team Canada Orientation camp. There will be three days of workouts followed by the Red and White game Thursday night. It really seems like someone could at least run a feed over the internet of the final game.

There was considerable Tweeting on Sunday about this article from the LA Times that says DirectTV has dumped Versus. I don't believe for a minute that a new contract won't get signed, if not before the August 31 deadline, then soon there after. This is nothing but negotiation tactics to scare customers into putting pressure on the parties to get it done.

More hockey news from the desert as the Examiner looks at possible line combinations for the Yotes. I don't see this group headed for the playoffs but I doubt the fans care at this point as long as they have a team. Here's the 30 in 30 days review of the Coyotes from NHL.com.

Here's a Rich Peverly update fron the AJC. I doubt he will hit the point a game mark in the coming season. With the addition of Nik Andropov, Rich will be on a less favorable line.

Here's an article out of Pittsburgh on baseballer Jack Wilson's return to the city after being traded to Seattle. It's rare to see a player write a thank you note to the city he left.

Puck Daddy takes a look at the dying breed of the general sports columnists. We saw what can happen a month or two ago when the Tennessean's Joe Biddle failed at writing about hockey. It was quite an embarrassing situation for all involved.

I've been wanting to go see the Nashville Roller Girls as an off season diversion and haven't made it yet. This is the first article I've seen written about the team. If the event itself is as entertaining as their web site it might be interesting to check it out.

Anyone who wants Alex Kovalev's 2009 Honda Ridgeline that he won as the All-Star MVP can bid on it on Ebay. Thanks to Sean Leahy for the heads up.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Weekend Round-Up and A List of Movie Suggestions

Another slow Saturday at the POTG estate. Posting at this late hour will kill the analytics since I'm the only one in the world doing nothing on a Saturday night.

I did manage to make it over to the local sporting good mecca, Jones and Lang, to pick order a couple of POTG logo polos for us to start the season in style.

J & L have been in business since I was a child and they have great prices on logo stuff that is half what the internet houses charge. I would suggest that anyone nationwide give them a call if you are looking for any special ordered logo or team apparel. They made great hoodies for the boy's hockey team a few years ago.

POTG Radio Preview...

Monday on POTG Radio we are scheduled to have Dirk Hoag of On The Forecheck as our guest. With Training camp opening three weeks from today, we will be focusing our attention back on the Predators after doing a few shows of a more "national" nature during the summer.

Dirk is the unchallenged local internet leader in Predators and NHL hockey news and is respected across the hockey community nationwide. His statistical analysis articles are unmatched and his annual miles traveled by team posts are always eagerly awaited by the hockey community. This will be a fun show to gear up for the Pred's upcoming preseason camp.

In the Predator Nation...

Forechecker announced the results of the all time favorite Predator team yesterday and today has the wallpaper up with a composite of the team. The weekend Breakfast Links are also being served. Dirk also posted the NHL season on a Google spreadsheet for everyone to use. Finally, he also takes a look at Russian pride and why it is important for the KHL to sign big name players. Dirk has had a busy day.

Brandon Felder has a good post on the Goc signing and answers a few more questions. One of his readers pointed out that Goc would have to clear waivers if sent to the AHL. That is something I had not thought of.

Jeremy at Section 303 also has a different view of Goc, having seen him as a young player in San Jose when he lived on the left coast.

Hockey's Future has a great article on Mitch Korn, the Pred's goalie coach. It is a feature length story that leaves little uncovered about Korn and the way the Predators have their staff set up for the coming year.

An interview with Ryan Ellis is up at Bleacher Report. It is written by Andrew Echevarria who thinks that Nashville "hasn’t been very successful in the recent years." I guess Andrew's team (Toronto) has made the playoffs more than four times in the last five years. I will cut a little slack because he is 15.

The Psycho Puck Lady has a bunch of interestingly random photos, and then in a separate post discovers that she has a big fan base in Nashville. Maybe that will sway her to visit to Music City this season. She gives props to Nashville sites including JAS Faulkner's Confessions of a Cheese Grits Fiend, View from 111, and POTG. She also lists our friend Michelle Kenneth's site as being "the most shockingly entertaining blog I've been introduced to this week." Thanks for the props for Nashville sites and friends. The hockey world is starting to awaken to the fact that there is actually hockey life in a non-traditional market.

Correction: Misquote in the above paragraph as Michelle tweets "I was reading your 8/22 entry on POTG. I said that about PsychoPuckLady, not vice versa. :) She was quoting what I said about her."

Around the NHL...

The big news on Friday was the Dany Heatley press conference where he continued to prove himself to be a self centered jerk. Pierre Lebrun has a piece on the presser. The biggest thing to come out of it is Heatley's contention that the Senators were the ones who leaked the trade request story. For some reason, I don't remember it quite like that.

Scott Burnside has a longer piece looking at Heatley's career and how this latest episode fits in with his ongoing lack of commitment to any place he has been.

Mirtle puts the numbers to the test on Heatley's feeling that he was getting short shifted at the end of the year.

Ryan at the RedLightDistrict is heading into the home stretch with his fantasy round-up. Today he has the top 20 goalies. He has also gone deep on Defensemen 1-40 41-80, Right wingers 1-30, 31-60, Left wingers 1-30, 31-60 and Centers 1-30, 31-60, 61-90.

Ryan also eliminates twenty teams from the cup race this year. Here are the last ten standing.

Matt Reitz has a good story that I can relate to. It's all about being the only hockey fan in a crowd. That is a situation where I seem to live about 90 % of my life. It's one of the benefits of living in a "non-traditional" market.

Thanks to Puck Central, a great Rangers and all-round site, for adding POTG to his comprehensive list of Hockey Tweeters to follow. This is a good place to refer friends that are new to Twitter and want a variety of folks to follow.

Tomas Vokoun, who just won the all time favorite Preds goalie award, is hoping for a better start to the season in Florida.

Illegal Curve looks at what the bookies think this year versus last year.

Team Canada opens their Olympic camp this week and here is the roster breakdown between Red and White squads.

Here is a "business" type view of the Coyote's situation from Bloomberg.

A View From The Cheap Seats has an article that is like Twitter on steroids as she asks five questions and posts the answers.

@Dani3boyz hosted another Tweetup last night on Long Islandand all appeared to be happy in these pictures.

If you haven't noticed, I'm a big fan of Dani.

Nick from Let There Be Lighthouse and @Islesblogger are also pictured.



Here is a story from Basically Becky describing the Tweetup festivities.




Off Topic...

This is a cool story about Jose Hernandez who is going up on the space shuttle next week. He started out as a child migrant worker in the fields of California and didn't learn English until he was twelve. Best line in the article is Jose talking about his parents being excited, "And of course now being an astronaut, to them that's just unbelievable. I think they're higher in orbit than we're going to be in."

Mark from The View From 111 asked for a list of 15 favorite movies. I couldn't do just 15 and I'm sure I missed some favorites, but here is a list of movies that I would never tire of watching.
Goodfellas, Casino, The Departed, The Aviator, Into The Wild, Caddyshack, Gilbert Grape, Matchstick Men, Pirates of the Caribbean 1, No Country for Old Men, Big Lebowski, Donnie Brasco, Coal Miner's Daughter, Eddie and the Cruisers, Natural Born Killers, True Romance, The Hoax, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Fight Club, Office Space, Ocean's 11-12, Hannibal Lector Trilogy, Swingers, Lords of Dogtown/Dogtown and Z Boys, Riding Giants, Catch Me if You Can, The Shining, Capote, Unbreakable, Sixth Sense, Lucky Number Slevin and many more that I can't remember.

I haven't had a Chaco Canyon post in a few weeks so here is one from my friend Christina Solstad about the discovery of a Pit House near where work is being done to upgrade the campground. West of Chaco is Canyon de Chelly which has a write up in the NYT. I am amazed that in the same article it mentions a hotel inside of Monument Valley. Unbelievable!

In closing, here is an oddity, a video clip from the Tennessean of Al Gore hosting the Nashville premiere of Inglorious Basterds.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Predators Sign Goc, TGIF Notes, and The Question "When Do You Want To Know?"

The Predator Nation is so starved for signing news that you have thought the breaking story about the Predators signing Marcel Goc to a two-way deal for $550,000 was the equivalent of the Paul Kayria signing of four years ago. Twitter exploded with the news and comments for several hours.

The story broke as a listing on the Cap Geek site and everything else was extrapolated from there. Forechecker and Brandon Felder did it up right with complete articles immediately after word circulated of the signing. Ads Short Shifts is on to it this AM with the Cal O'Reilly angle. We are still waiting for an official release from the Preds. The Tennessean also remains mute on the topic.

So this breeds the question, "when does the average fan want to know about a team's signing of a player?" I see three levels of potential news. The first level would be random speculation with no "source" credited. The second level would be like the one in the Goc situation, where there was a normally creditable site, Cap Geek, with a firm figure and terms. The third level would be a flowery press release carefully crafted by the team to present the signing in the best possible light.

Some web sites live and (mostly) die at the first level. Responsible bloggers are comfortable at level two, and most traditional news sources will wait on number three. So as a fan, when do you want to know?

PS: The story has changed before posted as John Glennon is now on board with the Goc story and the Preds have the official release. So the question changed a bit. Would you have rather known last night or this morning?

Other News from the Pred World...

We are looking forward to Forechecker releasing the all time favorite Predator team later today. His Friday Breakfast Links will tide us over until the man course is served.

Jim Diamond continues his Olympic coverage with a round-up of pundit's predictions on who will make the final Team USA squad. Good news for Ryan Suter is that he is on everyone's list.

I read the official press release on the story about Colin Wilson and a bunch of other rookies having their day with Upper Deck in a remote Canadian city for a photo shoot and have lost the link. Davis Boclair at The City Paper had my back with this story. I'm going to keep looking because the release was kind of neat.

More warped thoughts from Mark at The View from 111. I have a feeling this will become a Friday favorite among his readers. I know its one of mine already.

I missed this short piece from Preds.com on Pekka's summer. You may have too.

John Glennon's Thursday notes blog covers a variety of topics including a comparison of the Red Wings to the New England Pats.

Around the NHL...

Sad news yesterday that Jose Theodore's two month old son passed away. We offer our prayers to the family and all who were touched by them.

With the Team Canada orientation camp opening next week, Dany Heatley saved the camp's leaders a boat-load of headaches by calling a preemptive press conference today in Kelowna. After ducking the media all summer, this will help clear the air before the camp opens and hopefully keep the main store-lines to hockey matters next week.

There was a really good interview on XM 204 HTM with agent Alan Walsh today. Here's the podcast. He has been on the front line in the use of Twitter from his @walsha account. They also have an interview with Aaron Downey from the same show talking about the House 9 program that gets kids involved in hockey..

Michelle Kenneth has a good story about Brenden Shanahan and Darius Kasparaitis. This is a good read with several twists and turns.

Mirtle continues his yeoman's work of plowing through the documents in the Coyotes case and has a few exerts that are real zingers this morning.

Senators owner Eugene Melnyk appears to have had all the Jim Ballsillie that he could take and opened fire on the wannabe owner in this Ottawa Citizen piece. I'm sure the rest of Pred Nation is cheering him on. Here's a second story, just to pile on a little.

From Crash the Crease comes a projected list of each team's top line for the coming season.

The new NHL fan site, run by Twitter friend @umassdilo has potential to be a fun place. They offer a list of each NHL team and how to connect via Twitter, Facebook, RSS and a few other ways. They also give a big plug to SB Nation's NHL coverage. Here's @umassdilo's blog to kick things off.

Die By The Blade hammers the national TV schedule a bit more and offers solutions.

Tim Rosenthal writes of the coming chapter in the BU-BC rivalry that the game in Fenway will produce. For folks in our area that know little of college hockey, Tim brings perspective to how big of an event this will be.

The Ontario Teacher's Pension plan intends to increase their stake in MLSE to 66%. Do you think they are looking for a wind-fall profit from fees obtained from a second GTA team in the next few years?

One of my favorites, XM's Mick Kern, has a list of predictions for the upcoming season. As weird as a lot of them sound, a few may have hit the nail on the head. He takes whacks at a bunch of folks, and ultimately himself.

From @jacksonoakes: The one thing that @@NHL10 got wrong was at the end of Game 7 in the SCF, it showed Crosby and Lidstrom shaking hands.Ooops.

... And the p0rn bots have continued their assault on my Twitter account.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Thursday's Round-Up

Yesterday was an odd day as I continued to have my Twitter account under siege by porn bots that have endlessly tweeted Jackson's Tweet from Tuesday night that said "Going to see District 9 with @PredsOnTheGlass and @FisherOakes. Not sure what to expect :$" So if you see a lot of tweets from bot prostitutes claiming that they went to the movie with us, it is not true.

Last night I received a last minute invitation to co-host and run the board for The Program on BlogTalkRadio. Due to our schedule, I had to do the show from our church lobby using a weak bootleg internet connection which led to the determination that it was the "two tin cans and a string Edition" of the show. All in all considering our third world technology, and no show prep, it actually went pretty well. Thanks to Chris Wassel for the invitation.

In Pred Nation...

Dirk continues with his favorite Predator contest at On The Forecheck with voting on the second defenseman. So far, Sully and Kimmo Timonen have made the top six. Dirk also has his Breakfast Links for today.

John Glennon has a piece at the Tennessean about Brent Peterson's efforts to raise funds for Parkinson's research. In John's blog yesterday, he had an interesting note that original Predator Darren Turcotte is coach of the US Under 17 select team. The last I heard, Turcotte was head of the National Roller Hockey Team.

Forechecker wrote that John Glennon appeared on the Illegal Curve radio show last light in Winnipeg. The podcast archive link should appear here when it is loaded. I'm sure a lot of folks who missed it would like to hear what John had to say.

Jim Diamond looks forward to next week's Team Canada Camp and projects who Shea Weber may partner up with at next year's Olympics.

Kelly throws her two cents in on Ryan Suter's Olympic bid at Confessions of a Predator Fanatic. Unlike every other article you see on Suter, she doesn't bring his breeding in to the mix.

The Hockey Gal, who spun off from Admirals Short Shifts, has a good article about Alexander Sulzer. I didn't realize that he had been beaten up a couple of years ago in Europe. What is the deal with these muggings. Pekka got jumped at about the same time which set him back a year or so in his development.

Paul McCann has a new post this morning and touches on more sliminess from Jim Ballsillie.

Locally, SouthComm has purchased the Nashville Scene. Interestingly, they indicate that their combined publications is greater than the Tennessean. Their goal is to serve niche markets. Noticeably absent from the list of niches is a true sports publication. The City Paper is not "sports" in spite of what the release says. Nashville has had sports weeklys in the past that have all gone under. Will we ever see another one or has the internet rendered the possibility a thing of the past?

Around the NHL...

Big event of the day yesterday was the Versus TV schedule being revealed. That is indicative of the slowness of the season. Puck Daddy takes a shot at analyzing the schedule as it is. Puck the Media really gets down and dirty with their analysis. How is it possible that the Carolina Hurricanes get zero appearances after making it to the conference finals? The Preds have one Versus appearance against Detroit on November 23.

Another big story that went under the radar is news that at least 49 of the largest daily papers in the US will share sports news and stories. This will change how sports is reported and by whom in the mainstream media. This already happened on a smaller scale in Tennessee with the four major papers having a similar agreement last March.

Commissioner Gary Bettman will be deposed today in the Coyotes case in the desert. Bill Daly will be on the hot seat tomorrow. Bettman never answers a straight question from a reporter so I'm sure this will be a very trying time for all involved. Tickets should have been sold to raise money to pay creditors. Additionally, a massive 60 new documents have been filed as the deadline approaches.

The Hockey Writers report on Patrick Kane finding out that he had been charged with a couple of misdemeanors in the post practice scrum of reporters. This kid has shown no remorse which is usually indicative that he is headed for another incident in the future. Mark my words!

Nick at Let There Be Light(house) has another long piece that brings you current on this week's happenings on the island.

Scott Burnside and Pierre Lebrun have their third day wrap up in video and written form. ESPN also has audience Q and A's with their two hockey guys, Burnside and Lebrun.

With the US Olympic camp officially over, The Hockey Writers takes a look at who the final 23 may be and what the lines would look like coming out of camp. There looks to be plenty of room to disagree.

Mirtle takes a look at who may be the leaders on the Board of Governors in the NHL. Since all meetings are closed he "reads the tea leaves."

Daniel Briere was interviewed by Scott Laughlin on XM's Hockey this Morning earlier today.

J T Bourne's Blog has a tribute to the good guys in hockey. This is a nice change from some of the negative stuff that is out there.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Mid Week Highlights, Movie Reviews, and a HST Link

Although we were unable to attend, from all the tweets, it sounds as if last night's mini-Tweetup at the Riverfront Tavern was a great success. We are looking forward to news of the next all-ages Tweetup that will be done on a larger scale next week.

Movie Madness...

We went to see District 9 last night which is a very intense movie, especially the second half. If you haven't seen it, it is much better than a lot of the other stuff that is out there this summer. Jackson labeled it the best movie of the summer.

I also saw Julie and Julia over the weekend which was surprisingly good considering the premise. Anyone who blogs can relate to Julie's passion to produce 365 posts in a year. Jackson and Fisher saw The Ugly Truth on Monday which was a little worrisome since it is a chick flick. Then I realized that they were only going to drool over Katherine Heigl so I guess it was OK. We are looking forward to seeing Inglourious Basterds which opens on Friday.

Other movies that we've seen in the last few weeks include Moon and Adoration at the Belcourt in Nashville. Both were excellent flics that you will have a hard time finding if you don't have an art house type theater or a 30 screen complex near you.

In Pred Nation...

John Glennon discusses David Legwand's Olympic prospects. Not sure how the two words appear in the same sentence. Leggy leads most career Pred offensive categories due to his longevity. It would be great if he had a breakout year and got the attention of Team USA but don't hold your breath.

Tom Calahan has an new post at his blog, Predators Prowl. Tom writes about a few of the remaining free agents and advises there will be another Tweetup next week.

Scott Burnside and Pierre Lebrun do the Day two at the Team USA camp video and written story at ESPN and focus part of the story on Ryan Suter, son of Bob Suter, gold medalist from the 1980 Miracle on Ice team.

From Kelly at Confessions of a Pred Fanatic comes a primer on who sucks and who to hate. Good stuff.

Keep voting for the all time Preds Team at On The Forecheck.

Paul McCann posted a few Tuesday Thoughts yesterday.

Matt at View from My Seats wraps up his three-part series on new media today with a discussion about blogs and gives the Predator bloggers a nice plug as filling the hole that the MSM used to provide. He always does a good job. Give parts one (social networking) and two (videos and podcasts) a read too if you missed them.

Around the NHL...

NHL.com had a feature on the best players over 35. There are no real surprises other than Slava Kozlov on the first team.

Puck Daddy writes of the immanent plea bargain of Patrick Kane. You really wonder who is shaking down who in the matter. A plea will cover up the facts forever. If Kane was completely innocent, the charges would have not made it past the Grand Jury. This doesn't pass the smell test in my book.

The Red Wings signed Todd Bertuzzi to a one year deal. This is probably a good fit for Bert and the team.

Chris Chelios spoke to the media at the Team USA camp and is still looking for a deal for this season. He wants to play in the NHL but claims there is interest in the KHL too.

Nick at Let There Be Light(house) follows up Monday's POTG podcast with info about zoning which is the next step in the ongoing process of gaining approval for the Lighthouse Project.

From the AZ Republic comes news that Ballsillie henchman Richard Rodier was trying to funnel information to the Goldwater Institute to hurt competing bids. Where have we seen that tactic used before? Not sure that it is new "news" but the NHL has restated its offer to take over the Coyotes. Here's more mud slinging from The Star.

In simi-Hunter S. Thompson fashion, the Battle of California writes of Minor League Hockey being Decadent and Depraved. For the real thing read HST's classic, The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved. It doesn't matter that it isn't Derby time, this is always a great read. If you aren't familiar with HST, here is a link to help your education process.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Tuesday Tidbits and POTG Radio Podcast

Last night's special Lighthouse Project/Islanders Edition of POTG Radio show was a good one. The podcast version runs about 80 minutes. We took extra time after the live broadcast to get into some actual hockey talk about John Tavares and what the Islanders plan to do with three healthy NHL goalies when the season starts.

We would like to thank our wonderful guests that included a panel of Nick Giglia who writes for Let There Be Light(house), Dee Karl AKA Islanders 7th Woman who blogs at her own site as well as serving as the Islanders correspondent at Hockeybuzz, and Katrina Doell, who is the Public Relations Coordinator for the Lighthouse Development Group and also writes for The Light Post.

While you might think the discussion of the Lighthouse project and the local politics of Long Island may be a dry topic, it is vitally important to the fans of the Islanders who don't want to face the possibility of of sale or relocation to another city.

Nick pointed out that he did not believe that a team that has won the Stanley Cup has ever been forced to relocate. The whole league benefits from the Rangers-Islanders rivalry so we all need to pull for a solution that will keep the Islanders in place. If you give last night's show a listen you will come away with a true appreciation for where things stand and will be willing to send support to the Islander's fans.

In Pred's Land...

From Tom Callahan, there will be a mini-Tweetup tonight at 6:30 at the Riverfront Tavern at Church Street and First Avenue. The tavern is an adult establishment so the POTG crew will wait for next week's all ages Tweetup that Tom also is planning. We will toast you from afar and watch for tweets with the #NHLTweetup hashtag.

Mark at The View from 111 has a nice post about Brent Peterson's benefit golf tournament.

Forechecker's all-time Predator team voting is going strong at OnTheForecheck. I proudly voted for Sully and Kimmo on the first day of balloting. Tuesday's Breakfast Links are done and ready for viewing too.

Jim Diamond continues his look at Team USA with a focus on defense. It is starting to look like the Pred's Ryan Suter will be a key player on the blue line for Team USA.

John Glennon covers several points at Inside Predators.

Tickets for the Preds three preseason games go on sale Saturday.

Around the NHL...

The Team USA news conference that opened with an apology from Patric Kane, was the most anticipated (at least for a few minutes) non-event that I've seen in a while.

The first day of the Team USA Olympic orientation camp was relatively uneventful as would be expected. ESPN's Scott Burnside and Pierre Lebrun gave a wrap up to Monday's activities in video and written form.

From San Jose comes word fromTodd McLellean that no one is captain . He claims that someone will earn the C's and A's in camp. It sounds like a good idea for a team that has consistently underperformed in the playoffs.

Blue Notes at Newsday has the first comments from Vinny Prospal after the official announcement of his signing with the Rangers. It appears that he is pleased to be back with John Tortorella and that Torts was a major part of his decision to take a pay cut to play for the Rangers.

The Hockey Zen has a new video with a discussion about Jeremy Roenick's potential for the Hall of Fame. I love watching the Nadeau brother's videos.

Here's an interesting note on Chris Chelios potentially sucking up to try to get a job in Toronto.

Mirtle has a piece that clarifies the ownership situation in Atlanta. The local writer that is quoted is a bit more positive than I would expect.

Chris Botta at Islanders Point Blank discusses the myth of open positions at camp. This is a good follow up to John Glennon's story last week about all the one-way contracts at forward in the Preds camp.

In the desert, Mirtle extracts 14 key scheduling issues to be considered prior to the September 10 court date. He also has additional discussion this morning from more of the 666 documents filed in the case. What a perfect number for this situation.

From XM 204's Hockey This Morning @htmbigcountry: Team USA hopeful Mike Komisarek interview on Hockey This Morning. They will continue to have interviews from the Team USA camp all week.

The moon and stars are potentially line up for labor showdowns in all four major league sports in 2011. Sports Business Journal has a capsule of each sports issues. All four leagues are represented by the same firm, details here. What would ESPN do if all venues went dark in the same year?

Psycho Puck Lady is on a roll with her top ten Puck Bunny Songs for the Office. She really needs more exposure for her wit and writings.

Finally, a look at some humerous finds from the Puck Daddy vacation in Maine.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass